Product Review

I've had these pens for over a year & they are, by far, the best disposable
brush pens in the market. The Pilot brush pens don't compare to these pens. The
Clean Color brush pens have real nylon bristles which provide more control &
expressivity than felt tips. Prior to using to these brush pens, I used the
Sakura Pigma, Copic brush fine liner, Faber Castell Pitt Pens,Akashiya Sai,
Pental Standard & Kuratake Standard brush pens.
Here's a break-up on comparisons between these brush pens compared to the
others:
1. Pens are water soluble which allows for nice smooth blendabilty which is
near the level of the Kuratake nylon brush pens loaded up with water soluble
ink.
Unlike the Pitt thin brush pens which end up having muddied colors when
overlapping & mixing, Kuratake Clean Color's ink remains clear & vibrant.
2. Due to the above ink quality, ink isn't permanent & water resistant. Water &
watercolor layered over it will make the ink bleed a bit. If you are looking for
permanent ink, you are better off getting the Copic brush fine liners or loading
up a refillable brush pen. The above other brands, even if the say they are
water resistant, they still smear.
3. Brush is wider & thicker compared to the others (except for FC Pitt wide
brush--which are terrible- & Kuratake Standard & Pental Standard). For fine
lines, I recommend the Copics. Down the road, it would be nice if there was
some other widths.
4. The good thing about the brush width is that you can fluctuate between
thicknesses--about a #3 to #7 size.
5. Price is reasonable; compared to other disposables, it's a good value.
6. Brush handles are light & round. My preference for drawing tools is for them
to be weighted, balanced & with edges, like Kaweco pens. However, this is very
individual.
7. Handles are cheap looking, plastic & disposable. So, there is a larger carbon
footprint compared to Copics, Kuratake fountain brush pens, & Platinum
Refillable pens. I would love it if Kuratake would have metal bodies that were
refillable rather than using so much plastic.
8. Pens are very clean, controllable & have consistent ink-- no prepping or
pooling. When brush pens were new in the States back in 1990s, I used Pental
Standards as they had a large range of colors & flexible tips for a felt tip.
However, Pental Standards needed prepping & frequently, the ink would clog &
suddenly explode, ruining any drawing & my hands-- Pental Standards are a mess!
9. There is a huge variety of colors; around 60 colors! One of my other fave
online/brick & mortar stores has the full line of the brush pens. It would be
great if Jetpens carried the whole line & the larger sets. With the variety &
blendibility, the full line provides an emmense variability of color. The only
thing that is missing is that there's no metallic or luminescent colors (unlike
Pental Standards). Metallic inks can be trickier because the particles tend to
clog up pens that aren't dip brushes. If possible, I would love shiney &
luminescent colors.
I primarily use these brush pens to color illustrations when I want to have more
of a flat ink look rather than light washes & for mandalas (which result in
vibrant blendible & contrasting colors & design). They work nicely with Inktense
pencils, Permanent ink in refillable brush pens, fine liners, oil crayons &
especially the Sakura Jelly pens.
Jetpens, do you thin you could carry the whole line if there's interest?
Highly recommended.